Is this sentence weird?

[Jonathon]

It struck me as odd when I read it, and I want to see if anyone else shares my reaction. I have an idea about what seemed off, but I'll wait until I get a few responses before I say.

[rivka]

It's like those translated-to-English-only-not-quite directions for putting furniture together.

[Jonathon]

I think most of the weirdness comes from the fact that it's a little archaic—it comes from this guy, who died over two hundred years ago. But the thing that struck me the most was the use of "he." I honestly thought, "He who? Shouldn't it be 'they'?" And I don't say that just because I like "they" as an indefinite personal pronoun, but because it actually seemed wrong to use "he."

[Porter]

That's the exact same reaction I had.

[Tante Shvester]

Dreams never hurt anybody if he keeps working right behind the dream to make as much of it come real as he can.

For sure weird.  How about, "Dreams never hurt anybody who kept working..."

[rivka]

I think most of the weirdness comes from the fact that it's a little archaic—it comes from this guy, who died over two hundred years ago.

What do you expect? Burke was a stuffed shirt.

But the thing that struck me the most was the use of "he." I honestly thought, "He who? Shouldn't it be 'they'?" And I don't say that just because I like "they" as an indefinite personal pronoun, but because it actually seemed wrong to use "he."

Ah. In theory, "anybody" is singular. But I don't think we use it as such anymore, do we?

[Jonathon]

It's grammatically singular but semantically plural, so it is usually paired with singular verbs and other singular pronouns. For instance, I wouldn't say "Do anybody want a piece of cake?" I can't imagine using a singular verb with it, though I obviously have no problem using the allegedly plural pronoun they with it.

[rivka]

Ok, that explains why I couldn't figure out if we consider it plural or singular -- we tend to be inconsistent.

[kojabu]

Yes weird.